have been looking at a dana power lock, or spartan locker for the 44HP in my 79 3/4ton. i'm leaning toward the powerlock because it has 90-95% lockup but not as harsh as the locker. anybody use either of these? opinions?? will mostly use in snow and little in the mud.

 

I put a powr-lok in a truck about 6 months ago. Unfortunately.....the guys hubs were busted, and I didn't get a chance to check it out. The powr-lok may be a little too tight for snow use in 4-hi.....or 2wd with the hubs locked.

When I backed the truck out of the shop, I had the hubs locked, and could barely turn the wheels from side to side.....even on dirt. I don't know if that was just because it was straight out of the box and had no lube on the clutch packs. But before I could see if it loosened up any, the hub let go. Maybe someone else has one in their FRONT axle?

 

thanks for the info, i diffenitly dont wanna have to buy moly axle trying to stay low cost with this truck, but want good performance, i'm running a 300-6 with a 435 so i dont think excessive power is gonna be a problem

 

anybody else???????

 

I did run a power lock in my old TTB Dana 44 and I did not notice it while wheeling. I dont know if it helped but it was OK steering-wise. I now have an ARB locker in my front Dana 60 Diff. and I do know it dose help. If I do not turn off the locker, it feels like the front end is welded straight and I run hyro-assisted steering.

 

Just to clear things up, the powr-lok did not break the hub. The hub was already trashed. I locked them in an attempt to test the powr-lok. But....the hubs wouldn't hold long enough. For the few moments they did hold, I could tell the unit has ALOT of preload. Probably too much for snow and ice driving. A Tru-trac might be a better choice for you. It has a high torque bias, with a low pre-load. The disadvantage, is that the tru-trac must have SOME torque to bais. Meaning.....if I tire comes off the ground....forget about it, you get nothing. A powr-lok has enough preload to still provide some torque bias with only one wheel on the ground.

 

i didnt think it had. plan on getting warn premium lockouts to prevent any failure, do you think the preload of the power lock is enough to cause axle or joint failure in a non-high horsepower conservatively driven enviroment?? most of the time (95%) in four wheel drive the truck will never leave 1st gear (granny), what do you mean by the power lock has to much pre-load for snow and ice????

 

Pre-load, in a nutshell, means the force required to make the diff slip when not under load. As in you're driving in 2-hi with the hubs locked. For example, you jack your truck up. You grab one tire, a friend grabs the other, and you try to rotate the tires in opposite directions. Now, as you know, an open diff would rotate opposite directions with piratically no resistance. A Ford Traction-Lock would be tight....but with enough effort, you could probably slip it by hand(depending on model) Now a Powr-Lok, forget about it!! The thing will be as tight as a spool!! No way you're slipping it by hand!! But, on the street, there is enough friction between the tires and pavement to slip the diff when you're taking a corner. HOWEVER....on ICE or SNOW...there may not be enough friction to slip the diff in turns. This means that you might as well be trying to drive with a spool in the front axle. This only applies to driving in 2-hi with the hubs locked.

When it comes to breaking things, pre-load isn't really a factor. Pre-load only comes into play whenever the diff itself isn't under a load. When it's under load, it's the amount of torque bias that determines how hard it will twist any one axle shaft. And, as long as you don't do anything stupid, you shouldn't have any problems with durability. Even the mighty Powr-lock isn't nearly as brutal on axleshafts as a full locker. Just make sure you have some fresh Spicer 760x wheel joints and good spindle bearings, seals, and thrust washers.

 

a power lok it is thanks for the info

 

Congratulations.......you have chosen wisely!! ......that being said, good luck finding one. The Powr-Lok is being reproduced by 2 companies: Yukon and Nitro. JBG and most everyone else sells the Yukon......and it was on a national back-order. The last thing I heard from JBG is they were hoping to get some more this spring. I had to get a Nitro, and paid about $425 for it.